IMPERIAL POLICY IN FRANCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 344, 21 June 1869, Page 3

IMPERIAL POLICY IN FRANCE.

The Emperor of the French is exerting himself to influence the elections now rapidly approaching in France. His position is one of growing difficulty, and every step he takes shows his anxiety. There is no etable constitutional government to sustain his dynasty, and he ia too clear-sighted not to see the possibility of revolution at his death. The words of Metternich may aguin apply, " After me, the deluge!" There are confidential passages in letters recently published by M. Etnile Ollivier, which clearly indicate the guiding wish in the Imperial mind to shape a policy by which he may escape from this dilemma. As another appeal for popular support, the Emperor has published a speech addressed by him to the Council of State, in which he proposes to abolish the system of Livrets. These are the little books which all workmen in France have hitherto been compelled to carry, and in which are registered their occupation, the names of successive employers, and other details, serviceable by way of passport, but also enabling the police to track nny man's history without much trouble. They would constitutoan intolerable bondage to English working men, and their abolition will doubtless be acceptable in France. Impelled by a similar motive, the Emperor Napoleon has also written a letter to M. Kouher, proposing to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birthday of the first Napoleon, which occurs on the 15th of August next, by bestowing a pension of £10 a year on every old soldier who served under the Republic and the First Empire. It may be good policy to recall the glories of the great conqueror on every possible occasion, and to crown the dynasty with the recollections of a hundred years ; but the Legislative Chamber can hardly be prepared for the theological reasons which are urged upon its notice. ; " They will think with mo," says the Emperor, confidently, " that at a time when every one complains of tbe progress of

scepticism it is fitting to reward patriotic devotion, and to revive its memory in the present generation. To re-awaken great historical recollections is to strengthen faith in the future, and to render homage to the memory of great men is to recognise one of the most striking manifestations of the Divine will." Was there ever such a cure for scepticism propounded before ? The public in general are not disposed to accept it, the Finance Minister does not like it, aud the Legislature grumbles. Though Napoleon — worship is written on all the monuments of Paris, aud has its signs in every street, we are assured that it has nearly gone out. "It is not only the higher and the middle classes," writes a Parisian correspondent of The Times, " but the people themselves, that are nearly cured of that dangerous creed ; and those who like the Second Empire best, like it proportionately aa it differs from the first, and fortunately the difference is great. It is for that very reason that those fits of public adoration which sometimes seize upon our present ruler for tbe mighty founder of his race do not create at. all a sympathetic enthusiasm and desire to 1.0 down on our knees with him, but rather v sense of uneasiness and general dismay." The extravagant eulogy of the second Napoleon does not rekindle the dying flame of devotion.